Clashes in northern Aleppo kill two: Monitor

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - At least two people were killed and three others injured during clashes between Kurdish-backed forces and Ankara-aligned factions in northern Syria’s Aleppo province, a war monitor reported on Monday.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that two Kurdish fighters were killed after being wounded in an “infiltration operation” on the Marea-Harbel axis in northern Aleppo during clashes with Turkey-backed factions.

Three Turkish-backed fighters were also injured.

The pro-Kurdish Afrin Liberation Forces (HRE) are active in the area and carry out operations against Turkish-backed factions in control of parts of northern Aleppo province.

Afrin is a Kurdish city that was taken over by Turkey and Turkish-backed Syrian rebels in a military operation against Kurdish fighters of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) in 2018. Most of the Kurdish population fled and Turkish authorities resettled Arabs displaced from elsewhere in Syria into their vacated homes.

The clashes come amid a recent increase in tensions in the area, with Kurdish forces increasingly clashing with Turkish-backed rebels of the Syrian National Army (SNA) and other factions.

Last week, SOHR said that at least seven members of the Turkish-backed Faylaq al-Sham militia group were wounded after a military vehicle was targeted with a rocket-propelled grenade, allegedly coming from the areas under the influence of Kurdish forces and the Syrian regime in northern Aleppo countryside. 

Kurds have accused Turkey of taking advantage of recent clashes between some Arab tribes and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the eastern province of Deir ez-Zor, using it as an opportunity to attack Kurdish-led forces in Manbij and other areas. Manbij is located at a key crossroads in northern Syria.

Turkey considers the People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Syria, the backbone of the US-backed SDF, as an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), an armed group fighting for Kurdish rights in Turkey and designated a terrorist organization by Ankara.